General
The achievements of Hipparchus in astronomy were very remarkable,
considering the age in which he lived. He found the amount of the apparent
motion of the stars due to the precession of the equinoxes (of which he
was the discoverer) to be 59" per annum. The correct amount is about 50".
He measured the length of the year to within 9 minutes of its true value.
He found the inclination of the ecliptic to the plane of the equator to be
23° 51'. It was then 23° 46'--as we now know by modern calculations--so
that Hipparchus' estimation was a wonderfully close approximation to the
truth. He computed the moon's parallax to be 57', which is about its
correct value. He found the eccentricity of the sun's apparent orbit round
the earth to be one twenty-fourth, the real value being then about
one-thirteenth. He determined other motions connected with the earth and
moon; and formed a catalogue of 1080 stars. All this work has earned for
him the well-merited title of "The Father of Astronomy."[475]
The following is a translation of a Greek passage ascribed to Ptolemy: "I
know that I am mortal and the creature of a day, but when I search out the
many rolling circles of the stars, my feet touch the earth no longer, but
with Zeus himself I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods."[476]
This was inscribed (in Greek) on a silver loving cup presented to the late
Professor C. A. Young, the famous American astronomer.[477]
Some curious and interesting phenomena are recorded in the old Chinese
Annals, which go back to a great antiquity. In 687 B.C. "a night" is
mentioned "without clouds and without stars" (!) This may perhaps refer to
a total eclipse of the sun; but if so, the eclipse is not mentioned in the
Chinese list of eclipses. In the year 141 B.C., it is stated that the sun
and moon appeared of a deep red colour during 5 days, a phenomenon which
caused great terror among the people. In 74 B.C., it is related that a
star as large as the moon appeared, and was followed in its motion by
several stars of ordinary size. This probably refers to an unusually large
"bolide" or "fireball." In 38 B.C., a fall of meteoric stones is recorded
"of the size of a walnut." In A.D. 88, another fall of stones is
mentioned. In A.D. 321, sun-spots were visible to the naked eye.
Homer speaks of a curious darkness which occurred during one of the great
battles in the last year of the Trojan war. Mr. Stockwell identifies this
with an eclipse of the sun which took place on August 28, 1184 B.C. An
eclipse referred to by Thucydides as having occurred during the first year
of the Peloponnesian War, when the darkness was so great that some stars
were seen, is identified by Stockwell with a total eclipse of the sun,
which took place on August 2, 430 B.C.
A great eclipse of the sun is supposed to have occurred in the year 43 or
44 B.C., soon after the death of Julius Cæsar. Baron de Zach and Arago
mention it as the first annular eclipse on record. But calculations show
that no solar eclipse whatever, visible in Italy, occurred in either of
these years. The phenomenon referred to must therefore have been of
atmospherical origin, and indeed this is suggested by a passage in
Suetonius, one of the authors quoted on the subject.
M. Guillaume thinks that the ninth Egyptian plague, the thick "darkness"
(Exodus x. 21-23), may perhaps be explained by a total eclipse of the sun
which occurred in 1332 B.C. It is true that the account states that the
darkness lasted "three days," but this, M. Guillaume thinks, may be due to
an error in the translation.[478] This explanation, however, seems very
improbable.
According to Hind, the moon was eclipsed on the generally received date
of the Crucifixion, A.D. 33, April 3. He says, "I find she had emerged
from the earth's dark shadow a quarter of an hour before she rose at
Jerusalem (6{h} 36{m} p.m.); but the penumbra continued upon her disc for
an hour afterwards." An eclipse could not have had anything to do with the
"darkness over all the land" during the Crucifixion. For this lasted for
three hours, and the totality of a solar eclipse can only last a few
minutes at the most. As a matter of fact the "eclipse of Phlegon," a
partial one (A.D. 29, November 24) was "the only solar eclipse that could
have been visible in Jerusalem during the period usually fixed for the
ministry of Christ."
It is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that a total eclipse of the
sun took place in the year after King Alfred's great battle with the
Danes. Now, calculation shows that this eclipse occurred on October 29,
878 A.D. King Alfred's victory over the Danes must, therefore, have taken
place in 877 A.D., and his death probably occurred in 899 A.D. This solar
eclipse is also mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. From this it will be
seen that in some cases the dates of historical events can be accurately
fixed by astronomical phenomena.
It is stated by some historians that an eclipse of the sun took place on
the morning of the battle of Crecy, August 26, 1346. But calculation
shows that there was no eclipse of the sun visible in England in that
year. At the time of the famous battle the moon had just entered on her
first quarter, and she was partially eclipsed six days afterwards--that is
on the 1st of September. The mistake seems to have arisen from a
mistranslation of the old French word _esclistre_, which means lightning.
This was mistaken for _esclipse_. The account seems to indicate that there
was a heavy thunderstorm on the morning of the battle.
A dark shade was seen on the waning moon by Messrs. Hirst and J. C.
Russell on October 21, 1878, "as dark as the shadow during an eclipse of
the moon."[479] If this observation is correct, it is certainly most
difficult to explain. Another curious observation is recorded by Mr. E.
Stone Wiggins, who says that a partial eclipse of the sun by a dark body
was observed in the State of Michigan (U.S.A.) on May 16, 1884, at 7 p.m.
The "moon at that moment was 12 degrees south of the equator and the sun
as many degrees north of it." The existence of a dark satellite of the
earth has been suggested, but this seems highly improbable.
The sun's corona seems to have been first noticed in the total eclipse of
the sun which occurred at the death of the Roman emperor Domitian, A.D.
95. Philostratus in his _Life of Apollonius_ says, with reference to this
eclipse, "In the heavens there appeared a prodigy of this nature: a
certain _corona_ resembling the Iris surrounded the orb of the sun, and
obscured its light."[480] In more modern times the corona seems to have
been first noticed by Clavius during the total eclipse of April 9,
1567.[481] Kepler proved that this eclipse was total, not annular, so that
the ring seen by Clavius must have been the corona.
With reference to the visibility of planets and stars during total
eclipses of the sun; in the eclipse of May 12, 1706, Venus, Mercury, and
Aldebaran, and several other stars were seen. During the totality of the
eclipse of May 3, 1715, about twenty stars were seen with the naked
eye.[482] At the eclipse of May 22, 1724, Venus and Mercury, and a few
fixed stars were seen.[483] The corona was also noticed. At the eclipse of
May 2, 1733, Jupiter, the stars of the "Plough," Capella, and other stars
were visible to the naked eye; and the corona was again seen.[483]
During the total eclipses of February 9, 1766, June 24, 1778, and June 16,
1806, the corona was again noticed. But its true character was then
unknown.
At the eclipse of July 8, 1842, it was noticed by observers at Lipesk
that the stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse ([Greek: a] Orionis), which are
usually red, "appeared quite white."[484]
There will be seven eclipses in the years 1917, 1935, and 1985. In the
year 1935 there will be five eclipses of the sun, a rare event; and in
1985 there will be three total eclipses of the moon, a most unusual
occurrence.[485]
Among the ancient Hindoos, the common people believed that eclipses were
caused by the interposition of a monstrous demon called Raha. This absurd
idea, and others equally ridiculous, were based on declarations in their
sacred books, and no pious Hindoo would think of denying it.
The following cases of darkenings of the sun are given by Humboldt:--
According to Plutarch the sun remained pale for a whole year at the death
of Julius Cæsar, and gave less than its usual heat.[486]
A sun-darkening lasting for two hours is recorded on August 22, 358 A.D.,
before the great earthquake of Nicomedia.
In 360 A.D. there was a sun-darkening from early morn till noon. The
description given by the historians of the time corresponds to an eclipse
of the sun, but the duration of the obscurity is inexplicable.
In 409 A.D., when Alaric lay siege to Rome, "there was so great a
darkness that the stars were seen by day."
In 536 A.D. the sun is said to have been darkened for a year and two
months!
In 626 A.D., according to Abul Farag, half the sun's disc was darkened for
eight months!
In 934 A.D. the sun lost its brightness for two months in Portugal.
In 1090 A.D. the sun was darkened for three hours.
In 1096, sun-spots were seen with the naked eye on March 3.
In 1206 A.D. on the last day of February, "there was complete darkness for
six hours, turning the day into night." This seems to have occurred in
Spain.
In 1241 the sun was so darkened that stars could be seen at 3 p.m. on
Michaelmas day. This happened in Vienna.[487]
The sun is said to have been so darkened in the year 1547 A.D. for three
days that stars were visible at midday. This occurred about the time of
the battle of Mühlbergh.[488]
Some of these darkenings may possibly have been due to an enormous
development of sun-spots; but in some cases the darkness is supposed by
Chladni and Schnurrer to have been caused by "the passage of meteoric
masses before the sun's disc."
The first observer of a transit of Venus was Jeremiah Horrocks, who
observed the transit of November 24 (O.S.), 1639. He had previously
corrected Kepler's predicted time of the transit from 8{h} 8{m} a.m. at
Manchester to 5{h} 57{m} p.m. At the end of 1875 a marble scroll was
placed on the pedestal of the monument of John Conduitt (nephew of Sir
Isaac Newton, and who adopted Horrocks' theory of lunar motions) at the
west end of the nave of Westminster Abbey, bearing this inscription from
the pen of Dean Stanley--
"Ad majora avocatus
quæ ob hæc parerga negligi non decuit"
IN MEMORY OF
JEREMIAH HORROCKS
Curate of Hoole in Lancashire
Who died on the 3{d} of January, 1641, in or near his
22{d} year
Having in so short a life
Detected the long inequality in the mean motion of
Jupiter and Saturn
Discovered the orbit of the Moon to be an ellipse;
Determined the motion of the lunar aspe,
Suggested the physical cause of its revolution;
And predicted from his own observations, the
Transit of Venus
Which was seen by himself and his friend
WILLIAM CRABTREE
On Sunday, the 24th November (O.S.) 1639;
This Tablet, facing the Monument of Newton
Was raised after the lapse of more than two centuries
December 9, 1874.[489]
The transit of Venus which occurred in 1761 was observed on board ship(!)
by the famous but unfortunate French astronomer Le Gentil. The ship was
the frigate _Sylphide_, sent to the help of Pondicherry (India) which was
then being besieged by the English. Owing to unfavourable winds the
_Sylphide_ was tossed about from March 25, 1761, to May 24 of the same
year. When, on the later date, off the coast of Malabar, the captain of
the frigate learned that Pondicherry had been captured by the English, the
vessel returned to the Isle of France, where it arrived on June 23, after
touching at Point de Galle on May 30. It was between these two places that
Le Gentil made his observations of the transit of Venus under such
unfavourable conditions. He had an object-glass of 15 feet (French) focus,
and this he mounted in a tube formed of "four pine planks." This rough
instrument was fixed to a small mast set up on the quarter-deck and worked
by ropes. The observations made under such curious conditions, were not,
as may be imagined, very satisfactory. As another transit was to take
place on June 3, 1769, Le Gentil made the heroic resolution of remaining
in the southern hemisphere to observe it! This determination was duly
carried out, but his devotion to astronomy was not rewarded; for on the
day of the long waited for transit the sky at Pondicherry (where he had
gone to observe it) was clouded over during the whole phenomenon,
"although for many days previous the sky had been cloudless." To add to
his feeling of disappointment he heard that at Manilla, where he had been
staying some time previously, the sky was quite clear, and two of his
friends there had seen the transit without any difficulty.[490] Truly the
unfortunate Le Gentil was a martyr to science.
The famous German astronomer Bessel once said "that a practical astronomer
could make observations of value if he had only a cart-wheel and a gun
barrel"; and Watson said that "the most important part of the instrument
is the person at the small end."[491]
With reference to Father Hell's supposed forgery of his observations of
the transit of Venus in 1769, and Littrow's criticism of some of the
entries in Hell's manuscript being corrected with a different coloured
ink, Professor Newcomb ascertained from Weiss that Littrow was colour
blind, and could not distinguish between the colour of Aldebaran and the
whitest star. Newcomb adds, "For half a century the astronomical world had
based an impression on the innocent but mistaken evidence of a
colour-blind man respecting the tint of ink in a manuscript."
It is recorded that on February 26, B.C. 2012, the moon, Mercury, Venus,
Jupiter, and Saturn, were in the same constellation, and within 14
degrees of each other. On September 14, 1186 A.D., the sun, moon, and all
the planets then known, are said to have been situated in Libra.[492]
In the Sanscrit epic poem, "The Ramaya," it is stated that at the birth of
Rama, the moon was in Cancer, the sun in Aries, Mercury in Taurus, Venus
in Pisces, Mars in Capricornus, Jupiter in Cancer, and Saturn in Libra.
From these data, Mr. Walter R. Old has computed that Rama was born on
February 10, 1761 B.C.[493]
A close conjunction of Mars and Saturn was observed by Denning on
September 29, 1889, the bright star Regulus ([Greek: a] Leonis) being at
the time only 47' distant from the planets.[494]
An occultation of the Pleiades by the moon was observed by Timocharis at
Alexandria on January 29, 282 B.C. Calculations by Schjellerup show that
Alcyone ([Greek: ê] Tauri) was occulted; but the exact time of the day
recorded by Timocharis differs very considerably from that computed by
Schjellerup.[495] Another occultation of the Pleiades is recorded by
Agrippa in the reign of Domitian. According to Schjellerup the phenomenon
occurred on November 29, A.D. 92.
"Kepler states that on the 9th of January, 1591, Mæstlin and himself
witnessed an occultation of Jupiter by Mars. The red colour of the latter
on that occasion plainly indicated that it was the inferior planet."[496]
That is, that Mars was nearer to the sun than Jupiter. But as the
telescope had not then been invented, this may have been merely a near
approach of the two planets.
According to Kepler, Mæstlin saw an occultation of Mars by Venus on
October 3, 1590. But this may also have been merely a near approach.[496]
A curious paradox is that one can discover an object without seeing it,
and see an object without discovering it! The planet Neptune was
discovered by Adams and Leverrier by calculation before it was seen in the
telescope by Galle; and it was actually seen by Lalande on May 8 and 10,
1795, but he took it for a _star_ and thus missed the discovery. In fact,
he _saw_ the planet, but did not _discover_ it. It actually appears as a
star of the 8th magnitude in Harding's Atlas (1822). The great "new star"
of February, 1901, known as Nova Persei, was probably seen by some people
before its discovery was announced; and it was actually noticed by a
well-known American astronomer, who thought it was some bright star with
which he was not familiar! But this did not amount to a discovery. Any one
absolutely ignorant of astronomy might have made the same observation. An
object must be _identified_ as a _new_ object before a discovery can be
claimed. Some years ago a well-known Irish naturalist discovered a spider
new to science, and after its discovery he found that it was common in
nearly every house in Dublin! But this fact did not detract in the least
from the merit of its scientific discovery.
There is a story of an eminent astronomer who had been on several eclipse
expeditions, and yet was heard to remark that he had never seen a total
eclipse of the sun. "But your observations of several eclipses are on
record," it was objected. "Certainly, I have on several occasions made
observations, but I have always been too busy to look at the eclipse." He
was probably in a dark tent taking photographs or using a spectroscope
during the totality. This was observing an eclipse without seeing it!
Humboldt gives the credit of the invention of the telescope to Hans
Lippershey, a native of Wesel and a spectacle-maker at Middleburgh; to
Jacob Adreaansz, surnamed Metius, who is also said to have made
burning-glasses of ice; and to Zachariah Jansen.[497]
With reference to the parabolic figure of the large mirrors of reflecting
telescopes, Dr. Robinson remarked at the meeting of the British
Association at Cork in 1843, "between the spherical and parabolic figures
the extreme difference is so slight, even in the telescope of 6-feet
aperture [Lord Rosse's] that if the two surfaces touched at their vertex,
the distance at the edge would not amount to the 1/10000th of an inch, a
space which few can measure, and none without a microscope."[498]
In the year 1758, Roger Long, Lowndean Professor of Astronomy at
Cambridge, constructed an "orrery" on a novel principle. It was a hollow
metal sphere of about 18 feet in diameter with its fixed axis parallel to
the earth's axis. It was rotated, by means of a winch and rackwork. It
held about thirty persons in its interior, where astronomical lectures
were delivered. The constellations were painted on the interior surface;
and holes pierced through the shell and illuminated from the outside
represented the stars according to their different magnitudes. This
ingenious machine was much neglected for many years, but was still in
existence in Admiral Smyth's time, 1844.[499]
A "temporary star" is said to have been seen by Hepidanus in the
constellation Aries in either 1006 or 1012 A.D. The late M. Schönfeld, a
great authority on variable stars, found from an Arabic and Syrian
chronicle that 1012 is the correct year (396 of the Hegira), but that the
word translated Aries would by a probable emendation mean Scorpio. The
word in the Syrian record is not the word for Aries.[500]
Mr. Heber D. Curtis finds that the faintest stars mentioned in Ptolemy's
Catalogue are about 5·38 magnitude on the scale of the Harvard
_Photometric Durchmustering_.[501] Heis and Houzeau saw stars of 6-7
magnitude (about 6·4 on Harvard scale). The present writer found that he
could see most of Heis' faintest stars in the west of Ireland (Co. Sligo)
without optical aid (except short-sighted spectacles).
With reference to the apparent changes in the stellar heavens produced by
the precession of the equinoxes, Humboldt says--
"Canopus was fully 1° 20' below the horizon of Toledo (39° 54' north
latitude) in the time of Columbus; and now the same star is almost as
much above the horizon of Cadiz. While at Berlin, and in northern
latitudes, the stars of the Southern Cross, as well as [Greek: a] and
[Greek: b] Centauri, are receding more and more from view, the
Magellanic Clouds are slowly approaching our latitudes. Canopus was at
its greatest northern approximation during last century [eighteenth],
and is now moving nearer and nearer to the south, although very
slowly, owing to its vicinity to the south pole of the ecliptic. The
Southern Cross began to become invisible in 52° 30' north latitude
2900 years before our era, since, according to Galle, this
constellation might previously have reached an altitude of more than
10°. When it had disappeared from the horizon of the countries of the
Baltic, the great pyramid of Cheops had already been erected more than
five hundred years. The pastoral tribe of the Hyksos made their
incursion seven hundred years earlier. The past seems to be visibly
nearer to us when we connect its measurement with great and memorable
events."[502]
With reference to the great Grecian philosopher and scientist Eratosthenes
of Cyrene, keeper of the Alexandrian Library under Ptolemy Euergetes, Carl
Snyder says, "Above all the Alexanders, Cæsars, Tadema-Napoleons, I set
the brain which first spanned the earth, over whose little patches these
fought through their empty bootless lives. Why should we have no poet to
celebrate so great a deed?"[503] And with reference to Aristarchus he
says, "If grandeur of conceptions be a measure of the brain, or ingenuity
of its powers, then we must rank Aristarchus as one of the three or four
most acute intellects of the ancient world."[504]
Lagrange, who often asserted Newton to be the greatest genius that ever
existed, used to remark also--"and the most fortunate; we do not find more
than once a system of the world to establish."[505]
Grant says--
"Lagrange deserves to be ranked among the greatest mathematical
geniuses of ancient or modern times. In this respect he is worthy of a
place with Archimedes or Newton, although he was far from possessing
the sagacity in physical enquiries which distinguished these
illustrious sages. From the very outset of his career he assumed a
commanding position among the mathematicians of the age, and during
the course of nearly half a century previous to his death, he
continued to divide with Laplace the homage due to pre-eminence in the
exact sciences. His great rival survived him fourteen years, during
which he reigned alone as the prince of mathematicians and theoretical
astronomers."[506]
A writer in _Nature_ (May 25, 1871) relates the following anecdote with
reference to Sir John Herschel: "Some time after the death of Laplace, the
writer of this notice, while travelling on the continent in company with
the celebrated French _savant_ Biot, ventured to put to him the question,
not altogether a wise one, 'And whom of all the philosophers of Europe do
you regard as the most worthy successor of Laplace?' Probably no man was
better able than Biot to form a correct conclusion, and the reply was more
judicious than the question. It was this, 'If I did not love him so much I
should unhesitatingly say, Sir John Herschel.'" Dr. Gill (now Sir David
Gill), in an address at the Cape of Good Hope in June, 1898, spoke of Sir
John Herschel as "the prose poet of science; his popular scientific works
are models of clearness, and his presidential addresses teem with
passages of surpassing beauty. His life was a pure and blameless one from
first to last, full of the noblest effort and the noblest aim from the
time when as a young Cambridge graduate he registered a vow 'to try to
leave the world wiser than he found it'--a vow that his life amply
fulfilled."[507]
Prof. Newcomb said of Adams, the co-discoverer of Neptune with Leverrier,
"Adams' intellect was one of the keenest I ever knew. The most difficult
problem of mathematical astronomy and the most recondite principles that
underlie the theory of the celestial motions were to him but child's
play." Airy he regarded as "the most commanding figure in the astronomy of
our time."[508] He spoke of Delaunay, the great French astronomer, as a
most kindly and attractive man, and says, "His investigations of the
moon's motion is one of the most extraordinary pieces of mathematical work
ever turned out by a single person. It fills two quarto volumes, and the
reader who attempts to go through any part of the calculations will wonder
how one man could do the work in a lifetime."[509]
Sir George B. Airy and Prof. J. C. Adams died in the same month. The
former on January 2, 1892, and the latter on January 22 of the same year.
It is known from the parish register of Burstow in Surrey that Flamsteed
(Rev. John Flamsteed), the first Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, was buried
in the church at that place on January 12, 1720; but a search for his
grave made by Mr. J. Carpenter in 1866 and by Mr. Lynn in 1880 led to no
result. In Mrs. Flamsteed's will a sum of twenty-five pounds was left for
the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the great astronomer
in Burstow Church; but it does not appear that any monument was ever
erected. Flamsteed was Rector of the Parish of Burstow.[510] He was
succeeded in 1720 by the Rev. James Pound, another well-known astronomer.
Pound died in 1724.[511]
Evelyn says in his Diary, 1676, September 10, "Dined with Mr. Flamsteed,
the learned astrologer and mathematician, whom his Majesty had established
in the new Observatory in Greenwich Park furnished with the choicest
instruments. An honest sincere man."[512] This shows that in those days
the term "astrologer" was synonymous with "astronomer."
In an article on "Our Debt to Astronomy," by Prof. Russell Tracy Crawford
(Berkeley Astronomical Department, California, U.S.A.), the following
remarks occur:--
"Behind the artisan is a chemist, behind the chemist is a physicist,
behind the physicist is a mathematician, and behind the mathematician
is an astronomer." "Were it not for the data furnished by astronomers,
commerce by sea would practically stop. The sailing-master on the high
seas could not determine his position, nor in what direction to head
his ship in order to reach a desired harbour. Think what this means in
dollars and cents, and estimate it if you can. For this one service
alone the science of astronomy is worth more in dollars and cents to
the world in one week than has been expended upon it since the
beginning of civilization. Do you think that Great Britain, for
instance, would take in exchange an amount equal to its national debt
for what astronomy gives it? I answer for you most emphatically,
'No.'"
In his interesting book, _Reminiscences of an Astronomer_, Prof. Simon
Newcomb says with reference to the calculations for the _Nautical Almanac_
(referred to in the above extract)--
"A more hopeless problem than this could not be presented to the
ordinary human intellect. There are tens of thousands of men who could
be successful in all the ordinary walks of life, hundreds who could
wield empires, thousands who could gain wealth, for one who could take
up this astronomical problem with any hope of success. The men who
have done it are, therefore, in intellect the select few of the human
race--an aristocracy ranking above all others in the scale of being.
The astronomical ephemeris is the last outcome of their productive
genius."
In a paper on the "Aspects of American Astronomy," Prof. Newcomb says, "A
great telescope is of no use without a man at the end of it, and what the
telescope may do depends more upon this appendage than upon the instrument
itself. The place which telescopes and observatories have taken in
astronomical history are by no means proportional to their dimensions.
Many a great instrument has been a mere toy in the hands of its owner.
Many a small one has become famous. Twenty years ago there was here in
your city [Chicago] a modest little instrument which, judged by its size,
could not hold up its head with the great ones even of that day. It was
the private property of a young man holding no scientific position and
scarcely known to the public. And yet that little telescope is to-day
among the famous ones of the world, having made memorable advances in the
astronomy of double stars, and shown its owner to be a worthy successor of
the Herschels and Struves in that line of work."[513] Here Prof. Newcomb
evidently refers to Prof. Burnham, and the 6-inch telescope with which he
made many of his remarkable discoveries of double stars. With reference to
Burnham's work, Prof. Barnard says--
"It represents the labour of a struggling amateur, who during the day
led the drudging life of a stenographer in the United States court in
Chicago, and at night worked among the stars for the pure love of it.
Such work deserves an everlasting fame, and surely this has fallen to
Mr. Burnham."
Admiral Smyth says--
"A man may prove a good astronomer without possessing a spacious
observatory: thus Kepler was wont to observe on the bridge at Prague;
Schröter studied the moon, and Harding found a planet from a
_gloriette_; while Olbers discovered two new planets from an attic of
his house."[514]
It is probably not generally known that "some of the greatest astronomers
of modern times, such as Kepler, Newton, Hansen, Laplace, and Leverrier,
scarcely ever looked through a telescope."[515]
Kepler, who always signed himself Keppler in German, is usually supposed
to have been born on December 21, 1571, in the imperial town of Weil, but
according to Baron von Breitschwert,[516] he was really born on December
27, 1571, in the village of Magstadt in Wurtemberg.
According to Lieut. Winterhalter, M. Perrotin of the Nice Observatory
declared "that two hours' work with a large instrument is as fatiguing as
eight with a small one, the labour involved increasing in proportion to
the cube of the aperture, the chances of seeing decreasing in the same
ratio, while it can hardly be said that the advantages increase in like
proportion."[517]
The late Mr. Proctor has well said--
"It is well to remember that the hatred which many entertain against
the doctrine of development as applied to solar systems and stellar
galaxies is not in reality a sign, as they imagine, of humility, but
is an effort to avoid the recognition of the nothingness of man in the
presence of the infinities of space and time and vitality presented
within the universe of God."[518]
Humboldt says--
"That arrogant spirit of incredulity, which rejects facts without
attempting to investigate them, is in some cases almost more injurious
than an unquestioning credulity. Both are alike detrimental to the
force of investigations."[519]
With reference to the precession of the equinoxes and the changes it
produces in the position of the Pole Star, it is stated in a recent book
on science that the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh is
inclined at an angle of 30° to the horizon, and therefore points to the
celestial pole. But this is quite incorrect. The Great Pyramid, it is
true, is situated close to the latitude of 30°. But the entrance passage
does not point exactly to the pole. The inclination was measured by Col.
Vyse, and found to be 26° 45'. For six out of the nine pyramids of
Ghizeh, Col. Vyse found an _average_ inclination of 26° 47', these
inclinations ranging from 25° 55' (2nd, or pyramid of Mycerinus) to 28° 0'
(9th pyramid).[520] Sir John Herschel gives 3970 B.C. as the probable date
of the erection of the Great Pyramid.[520] At that time the distance of
[Greek: a] Draconis (the Pole Star of that day) from the pole was 3° 44'
25", so that when on the meridian _below_ the pole (its lower culmination
as it is termed) its altitude was 30° - 3° 44' 25" = 26° 15' 35", which
agrees fairly well with the inclination of the entrance passage. Letronne
found a date of 3430 B.C.; but the earlier date agrees better with the
evidence derived from Egyptology.
Emerson says--
"I am brother to him who squared the pyramids
By the same stars I watch."
From February 6 to 15, 1908, all the bright planets were visible together
at the same time. Mercury was visible above the western horizon after
sunset, Venus very brilliant with Saturn a little above it, Mars higher
still, all ranged along the ecliptic, and lastly Jupiter rising in the
east.[521] This simultaneous visibility of all the bright planets is
rather a rare occurrence.
With reference to the great improbability of Laplace's original Nebular
Hypothesis being true, Dr. See says, "We may calculate from the
preponderance of small bodies actually found in the solar system--eight
principal planets, twenty-five satellites (besides our moon), and 625
asteroids--that the chances of a nebula devoid of hydrostatic pressure
producing small bodies is about 2{658} to 1, or a decillion decillion
(10{66}){6} to the sixth power, to unity. This figure is so very large
that we shall content ourselves with illustrating a decillion decillion,
and for this purpose we avail ourselves of a method employed by ARCHIMEDES
to illustrate his system of enumeration. Imagine sand so fine that 10,000
grains will be contained in the space occupied by a poppy seed, itself
about the size of a pin's head; and then conceive a sphere described about
our sun with a radius of 200,000 astronomical units[522] ([Greek: a]
Centauri being at a distance of 275,000) entirely filled with this fine
sand. The number of grains of sand in this sphere of the fixed stars would
be a decillion decillion[523] (10{66}){6}. All these grains of sand
against one is the probability that a nebula devoid of hydrostatical
pressure, such as that which formed the planets and satellites, will lead
to the genesis of such small bodies revolving about a greatly predominant
central mass."[524] In other words, it is practically certain that the
solar system was _not_ formed from a gaseous nebula in the manner
originally proposed by Laplace. On the other hand, the evolution of the
solar system from a rotating spiral nebula seems very probable.
* * * * *
Some one has said that "the world knows nothing of its greatest men." The
name of Mr. George W. Hill will probably be unknown to many of my readers.
But the late Prof. Simon Newcomb said of him that he "will easily rank as
the greatest master of mathematical astronomy during the last quarter of
the nineteenth century."[525] Of Prof. Newcomb himself--also a great
master in the same subject--Sir Robert Ball says he was "the most
conspicuous figure among the brilliant band of contemporary American
astronomers."[526]
An astronomer is supposed to say, with reference to unwelcome visitors to
his observatory, "Who steals my purse steals trash; but he that filches
from me my clear nights, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes
me poor indeed."[527]
Cicero said, "In the heavens there is nothing fortuitous, unadvised,
inconstant, or variable; all there is order, truth, reason, and
constancy"; and he adds, "The creation is as plain a signal of the being
of a God, as a globe, a clock, or other artificial machine, is of a
man."[528]
"Of all the epigrams attributed rightly or wrongly to Plato, the most
famous has been expanded by Shelley into the four glorious lines--
"'Thou wert the morning star among the living
Ere thy pure light had fled,
Now having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving
New splendour to the dead.'"[529]
Sir David Brewster has well said,[530] "Isaiah furnishes us with a
striking passage, in which the occupants of the earth and the heavens are
separately described, 'I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I,
even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all _their_ host have I
commanded' (Isaiah xlv. 12). But in addition to these obvious references
to life and things pertaining to life, we find in Isaiah the following
remarkable passage: 'For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God
Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, _He
created it not_ IN VAIN, He formed _it to be inhabited_' (Isaiah xlv. 18).
Here we have a distinct declaration from the inspired prophet that the
_earth would have been created_ IN VAIN _if it had not been formed to be
inhabited_; and hence we draw the conclusion that as the Creator cannot be
supposed to have made the worlds of our system and those in the sidereal
system in vain, they must have been formed to be inhabited." This seems to
the present writer to be a good and sufficient reply to Dr. Wallace's
theory that our earth is the only inhabited world in the Universe![531]
Such a theory seems incredible.
The recent discovery made by Prof. Kapteyn, and confirmed by Mr.
Eddington, of two drifts of stars, indicating the existence of _two_
universes, seems to render untenable Dr. Wallace's hypothesis of the
earth's central position in a single universe.[531]
NOTE ADDED IN THE PRESS.
While these pages were in the Press, it was announced, by Dr. Max Wolf of
Heidelberg, that he found Halley's comet on a photograph taken on the
early morning of September 12, 1909. The discovery has been confirmed at
Greenwich Observatory. The comet was close to the position predicted by
the calculations of Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin of Greenwich Observatory
(_Nature_, September 16, 1908).
INDEX
A
Aboukir, 287
Aboul Hassan, 221
Abu Ali al Farisi, 225
Abu-Hanifa, 233, 234
Abul-fadl, 236
Accadians, 250, 252
Achernar, 275
Aclian, 282
Adam, 96, 347
Adhad-al-Davlat, 225, 236
Adonis, 261
Adreaansz, 342
Airy, Sir G. B., 87, 140, 347, 357
Aitken, 160
Al-Battani, 232, 233
Albrecht, 173
Albufaragius, 283
Alcor, 241
Alcyone, 137
Aldebaran, 60, 156, 236, 252, 257, 310, 311
Alfard, 236, 289
Alfargani, 286
Alfraganus, 281
Almagest, 281
Al-Sufi, 47, 149, 179, 189, 221, 224, 225-238, 244, 246, 250, 251, 253,
254, 261, 263, 264, 266-270, 272, 274-278, 285, 287, 289, 290, 293,
298, 300-302, 304, 307
Altair, 246
Ampelius, 262
Amphion, 257
Ancient eclipses, 52, 53
Anderson, 120, 277
Andromeda nebula, 198-206, 231
Annals of Ulster, 332
Antares, 60, 179, 310, 311
Anthelm, 300
Antinous, 248
Antlia, 302
Apollo, 257
Apparent diameter of moon, 49
Apple, 79
"Apples, golden," 258
Apus, 306
Aquarius, 268
Aquila, 246
Aquillus, 220
Ara 295
Arago, 26, 30, 57, 116, 193, 331
Aratus, 219, 242, 245, 250, 255, 256, 261, 263, 272
Archimedes, 346, 354
Arcturus, 148, 188, 244
Argelander, 29, 227, 229, 230, 240
Argo, 285-288, 305
Argon in sun, 4
Argonauts, 243, 250
Aries, 250
Aristotle, 49, 67
Arrhenius, 4, 8, 22, 45, 66
Ashtoreth, 260
_Astra Borbonia_, 4
Astræa, 263
Astronomy, Laplace on, 44
_Astro Theology_, 23
Atarid, 232, 233
Atmosphere, height of, 33
Augean stables, 269
Augustus, 262
Auriga, 245
Aurora, 33, 41, 42
Auwers, 206
Axis of Mars, 59
B
Babilu, 267
Baily, 137, 144
Baker, 183
Ball, Sir Robert, 6, 355
Barnard, Prof., 29, 54, 57, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 91, 93, 103, 104, 114,
130, 132, 139, 192, 213, 316, 317, 350
Barnes, 78, 79
Bartlett, 35, 36
Bartschius, 296, 298
Bauschingen, 69, 70
Bayer, 179, 221, 272, 284, 309, 310
Bayeux Tapestry, 105
Becquerel, 8
"Beehive," 259
Beer, 20
Bel, 250
Bellatrix, 253
Benoit, 22
Berenice, 297
Berry, 25
Bessel, 339
Betelgeuse, 179, 222, 264
Bianchini, 21, 22, 77
Biela's comet, 99
Bifornis, 268
Binary stars, 162
Birmingham, 5, 114
"Black body," 3
"Blackness" of sun-spots, 6
"Blaze star," 180, 184
Bode, 276
Bohlin, 199, 200
Bond, 85
Bond (Jun.), 74
_Book of the Dead_, 264, 274
Borelly, 103
Boserup, 28
Boss, 152
Brahé, Tycho. _See_ Tycho Brahé
Brauner, 211
Bravais, 42
Bredikhin, 76
Bremiker, 94
Brenner, Léo, 13, 22, 87, 91, 133
Brewster, 356
Brightness of Mercury, 10-12
" of nebulæ, 193
" of sun, 1, 2, 3
" of Venus, 14, 17, 19, 31
Bright clouds, 33, 34
" night, 45
" stars, 278
Brooks, 118
Brown, 218, 219, 248, 255, 260, 267, 272, 279, 281, 291, 295
Browning, 25
Brugsch, 127
Buddha, 256
Bull, Pope's, 107
"Bull's foot," 253
Buonaparte, 30
Burnham, 160, 165-167, 180, 184, 260, 350, 351
Burns, 130
Buss, 4
C
Caaba, 125
Cacciatore, 72
Cælum, 302
Callimachus, 297
Callixtus III., 107
Calvisius, 53
Camelopardalis, 296
Cameron, 18
Campbell, 85, 153, 159, 178
"Canals" on Mars, 61-63
Cancer, 258, 259
Canes Venatici, 296
Canicula, 280
Canis Major, 279
" Minor, 284
Canopus, 157, 286, 344
Capella, 156, 164, 189, 236, 245, 246
Capricornus, 267, 268
"Capture" of satellites, 58
Carbonic acid, 66
Cassini, 20, 22, 74, 78, 358
Cassiopeia's Chair, 244
Castor, 160, 257
Caswell, 52
Catullus, 297
Caussin, 225
Cecrops, 268
"Celestial Rivers," 308
Celoria, 324, 326
Centaurus, 292, 293
Centre of gravity, 8
Cephalus, 279
Cepheid variables, 187
Ceraski, 2, 176
Cerberus, 243, 257
Ceres, 260
Cerulli, 22, 62
Cetus, 272
Chacornac, 18, 84
Chamælion, 305
Chamberlin, 194
Chambers, 72
"Charles' Wain," 240
Chinese Annals, 19, 30, 105, 186, 223, 267, 330
Childrey, 128
Chiron, 295
Christmann, 281
Chromosphere, sun's, 4
Cicero, 49, 262, 280, 355
Circinus, 307
Clavius, 334
Climate, 45
"Coal Sack," 293, 320
Cobham, 88, 102
Colbert, 175
Colours of stars, 140, 141, 188-190
Coma Berenices, 297, 298
Comets, number of, 98
" tails of, 115, 116
Comet years, 104
Comiers, 99
Comstock, 90, 146
Condamine, 257
Conon, 297
Coon Butte mountain, 120, 121
Cooper, 3
Copeland, 76, 157
Corona, sun's, 1, 334
" round moon, 35, 36
Corona Australis, 295
Corvinus, 292
Corvus, 292
Cotsworth, 46
Cowell, 105
Crabtree, 337
Crater, 291
Craters on moon, 55, 56
Crawford, 348
Crecy, Battle of, 333
Crescent of Venus, 19, 20
Crommelin, 105, 111
Crucifixion, 18
Curtis, 344
Cusps of Venus, 20
Cygnus, (61), 155
Cynocephalus, 222
D
Dante, 156, 258, 265
Dark shade on moon, 333
D'Arrest, 94
Darwin, Sir George, 158, 319
"David's Chariot," 241
Davis, 155
Dawes, 168
"Dawn proclaimer," 251
Delambre, 185
Delauney, 347
Dembowski, 190
Demetrius, 111
Denning, 11, 74, 77, 84, 86, 87, 89, 99, 118, 340
Derham, 21, 23
Deucalion, 268
De Vico, 21, 22
Diamonds in meteorites, 127
Dilkur, 251
Diodorus Siculus, 127
Diogenes Laertius, 41
Diomed, 272
Dione, 89
"Dipper," 241
Doberck, 160
Dollond, 24
Domitian, 334
Donati's comet, 100
Dorado, 304
Dordona, 256
Dorn, 245
Douglass, 81
Dragon, 242
Draper, 75
Drayton, 156
Dreyer, 115
Drifting stars, 152
Dryden, 242
Duncan, 187
Dunlop, 264
Dupret, 83
Dupuis, 245, 252, 257, 258, 259, 266, 267, 268
"Dusky star," 272
E
"Earthen jar," 247
Earth's attraction on moon, 55
Earth's motions, 39
" rotation, 46
" surface, 32
"Earthshine" on moon, 51, 52, 56, 57
Eastmann, 316
Easton, 323, 324, 325
Eclipses, ancient, 52, 53, 57, 58
" dark, of moon, 53, 57, 58
Ecliptic, obliquity of, 47
Eddington, 357
Electra, 19
Elster, 39
Emerson, 353
Enceladus, 89
Encke, 113, 116, 240
Ennis, 189
Eratosthenes, 250, 297, 345
Eridanus, 274-278
Eros, 69, 70, 71
Eta Argus, 177, 287
Eudemus, 47
Eudoxus, 218, 219, 223
Euler, 56
Eunomia, 71
Europa, 252
F
Fabritius, 4, 101
Fabry, 1
Faint stars in telescope, 176
"False Cross," 156
"Famous stars," 246
Fath, 130, 213
Faye, 100
February, Five Sundays in, 36
Fergani, 189
"Fisher Stars," 256
"Fishes in Andromeda," 249
Fitzgerald, 127
Flammarion, 22, 26, 50, 138, 255, 265, 276
Flamsteed, 348
"Flat earth" theory, 32
Fomalhaut, 271, 309, 310
Fontana, 20
Fontenelle, 357
Forbes, 82, 95, 96
Fornax, 301
Fournier, 87
Fovea, 284
Freeman, 88
Fréret, 222
Frisby, 101
Fritsch, 21
Furner, 163
G
Gale, 78
Galileo, 3, 4, 80, 82
Galle, 94, 341
Ganymede, 268
Gaseous nebula, spectra of, 195-198, 212
Gassendi, 14, 139
Gathman, 118
Gaubil, 99
Gauthier, 103
Gegenschein, 131
Gemini, 257, 258
Geminid variables, 187
Gentil, Le, 338, 339
Gertel, 39
Ghizeh, Pyramids of, 353
Gibbous phase of Jupiter, 75
Gill, Sir David, 118, 215, 216, 346
Glacial epoch, 42
Gledhill, 76
Globular clusters, 214, 215
Goad, 12
Goatcher, 179
"Golden apples," 258
Golius, 281
Gould, 229, 278, 301, 304, 309, 310, 326
Grant, 82, 96, 345
Gravitation, Law of, 15, 40
Greely, 186
Greisbach, 80
Groombridge 1830, 159
Grubb, Sir Howard, 164
Gruithuisen, 21, 25, 26, 28
Gruson, 127
Guillaume, 331
Guthrie, 25
H
Habitability of Mars, 63-66
" of planets, 40
Hadrian, 248
Halbert, 78
Hale, 148, 150
Hall, 15, 131
Halley, 14, 17, 99, 105, 106, 108, 109, 116, 143, 145, 276
Halm, 122
Halo, 35, 36
Hanouman, 284
Hansen, 351
Hansky, 27
Harding, 25, 26, 94
"Harris, Mrs.," 90
Hartwig, 88, 173
Harvests, 104
Heat of sun, 2, 3, 7
Height of atmosphere, 33
Heis, 132, 175, 189, 227, 229, 344
Helium, 4
Hepidanus, 267, 348
Hercules, 243, 259, 268
Herod, 18, 53
Herschel, Miss Caroline, 193, 194, 324, 357
Herschel, Sir John, 112, 177, 190, 207, 209, 210, 215, 289, 314, 346,
353
Herschel, Sir Wm., 3, 24, 80, 112, 114, 115, 116, 171, 178, 179, 190,
324, 325
Hesiod, 17, 220
Hesperus, 256
Hevelius, 99, 116, 221, 296, 299, 300
Hill, 87, 355
Hind, 19, 30, 54, 105, 111, 180
Hipparchus, 135, 221-223, 226, 250, 278, 281, 293, 329
Hippocrates, 258
Hirst, 333
Holetschak, 108
Homer, 17
Honorat, 84
Hooke, 74, 128
Horace, 280
Horologium, 303
Horus, 145, 258
Horrebow, 29
Horrocks, 337
Hortensus, Martinus, 139
Hough, 76
Houzeau, 227, 229, 262, 274, 344
Hovedin, Roger de, 53
Hubbard, 100
Huggins, Sir Wm., 91, 148, 180
Humboldt, 30, 82, 83, 124, 128, 134, 154, 157, 342, 352, 357
Hussey, 88
Hyades, 157, 252, 253, 257
Hydra, 288
Hydrus, 303
Hyperion, 88, 90
I
Ibn al-Aalam, 225
Ibn Alraqqa, 281
Icarus, 284
Indus, 307
Inhabited worlds, 328, 357
Innes, 78, 168
Intra-Mercurial planet, 14, 15, 29
Invention of telescope, 342
Io, 252
Ions, 27
Iris, 71
Isaiah, 17, 356
Isis, 252, 261, 282, 283
Istar, 260
J
Jansen, 342
Japetus, 89, 90
Jason, 257, 285
Johnson, Rev. S. J., 19
Jonckheere, 15
Jones, 129
Jordan, 174
Jupiter, chap. viii.
" gibbous form of, 75
" and sun, 8
K
Kalevala, 240
Kapteyn, 314, 316, 321, 322, 326, 357
Kazemerski, 244
Keeler, 86, 215
Kelvin, Lord, 206, 315, 316
Kempf, 174
Kepler, 52, 57, 298, 340, 341, 351
Khayyam, Omar, 127
Kimah, 255
Kimball, 51
Kimta, 255
Kirch, 23, 115
Kirkwood, 6
Kleiber, 123
Klein, 114, 183
Knobel, 238, 263
Konkoly, 183
Koran, 127, 270
Kreusler, 4
Kreutz, 101, 112
L
Lacaille, 294, 301, 302
Lacerta, 300
Lagrange, 345
La Hire, 20, 21
Lalande, 143, 144, 284
Landerer, 52
Langdon, 25
Langley, Prof., 3
Laplace, 43, 44, 98, 346, 351, 354
Larkin, 65
Lassell, 77, 128
"Last in the River," 275-298
Last year of century, 37
Lau, 178, 183
Leo, 259
Leo Minor, 298
Lepus, 278, 279
Lernæan marsh, 258
Leverrier, 44, 347, 351
Lewis, 156, 162
Lewis, Sir G. C., 17
Lexell's comet, 98
Libra, 262
Life, possible, in Mars, 63-65
Light of full moon, 1, 51
Lippershey, 342
Littrow, 339
Lockyer, Sir Norman, 144, 147
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 55
Long, 343, 357
Longfellow, 156, 273
Lottin, 42
Lowell, 22, 43, 59, 61, 64, 88
Lucifer, 17
Lucretius, 320
"Luminous clouds," 33, 34
Lunar craters, 55, 56
" "mansions," 251
" mountains, 58
" theory, 56
Lunt, 179
Lupus, 294
Lyman, 25
Lynn, 37, 38, 96, 106, 179, 243, 244, 310
Lynx, 296
Lyra, 243, 244, 266
M
Maclear, 77
Mädler, 20, 22
Mæstlin, 341
Magi, star of, 1, 18, 145
Magnitudes, star, 311
Maia, 19, 256
Mairan, 357
"Manger," 259
Manilius, 250, 259, 272
Marius, Simon, 82, 83, 231
Markree Castle, 3
Marmol, 76
Mars, chap. vi.;
axis of 59;
red colour of, 60;
water vapour in, 60;
clouds in, 61;
"canals" in, 61
Martial, 17
Mascari, 22
Ma-tuan-lin, 186, 267
Mayer, 24
May transits of Mercury, 15
Maxwell, Clerk, 86
McHarg, 16
McKay, 286
Medusa, 244
Mee, 88
Melotte, 82
Mendelief, 212
Mensa, 304
Mercury, chap, ii., 258
Merrill, 121
Messier, 114
Meteoric stones, 119
Meteors, 33
Metius, 342
Microscopium, 302
Milky Way, 320, 323, 325, 326, 328
Milton, 263
Mimas, 88, 89
Minor planets, chap. vii.
Mira Ceti, 178, 186, 272, 273
Mitchell, 4
Mithridates, 111
Mitra, 145
Molyneux, 80
Monck, 156, 181
Monoceros, 298
Montanari, 170, 171
Montigny, 34
Moon, light of, 1, 51
" as seen through a telescope, 50
"Moon maiden," 52
Moon mountains, 58
Morehouse, 103, 110
Motions of stars in line of sight, 141, 142
Moulton, 133, 318
Mountains, lunar, 58
Müller, 174
Musca, 305
Mycerinus, Pyramid of, 353
N
Nasmyth, 11
Nath, 253
Nautical Almanac, 349
Nebula in Andromeda, 198-206, 231
Nebulæ, gaseous, 195-198, 212, 213
Nebulæ, spiral, 213
Nebular hypothesis, 354
Nemælian lion, 259
Nemæus, 259
Neon in sun, 4
Nepthys, 271
Neptune, 341
Newcomb, 13, 15, 33, 50, 65, 70, 129, 130, 153, 191, 203, 282, 339, 347,
349, 350, 355
Newton, 15, 351
Nicephorus, 127
Nicholls, 148, 154
Nineveh tablets, 17
Noble, 25
Norma, 302
Novæ, 180-182, 265, 267, 343
Nova Persei, 190
November transits of Mercury, 15
Number of nebulæ, 191
" of stars, 135, 136, 236, 237
" of variable stars, 182, 183
O
Obliquity of ecliptic, 47
Occupations, 14, 15, 54, 67, 80, 84, 85, 259, 340, 341
Octans, 303
Odling, 122
Oeltzen, 72
Olbers, 104, 124
Old, 340
Orion, 49, 146, 273, 274
Osiris, 145, 259, 261, 283
"Ostriches," 266
Otawa, 240
Ovid, 242, 250, 255, 265, 288, 291, 322
P
Palisa, 71
Palmer, 182
Parker, 19
Parkhurst, 174
Paschen, 2
Pastorff, 25
Pavo, 307
Payne, 139
Pearson, 77
Peary, 119
Peck, 176
Pegasus, 248
Pelion, 282
Peritheus, 258
Perrine, 15, 76, 191, 192, 214
Perrotin, 351
Perseus, 244
Petosiris, 222
Philostratus, 334
Phlegon, 332
Phoebe, 90
Phoenix, 301
Phosphorus, 17
Photographic nebula, 192
Pickering, E. C., 125, 140, 144, 177
Pickering, W. H., 1, 12, 51, 61, 95, 102
Pictor, 304
Pierce, 228
"Pilgrim Star," 180, 185, 186
Pingré, 54
Pinzon, 294
Pisces, 271
Piscis Australis, 295, 296
Planetary nebulæ, 213
Platina, 107
Pleiades, 19, 52, 137, 154, 157, 235, 254-257
Pliny, 17, 265, 280
Plummer, W. E., 180
Plurality of worlds, 328, 356, 357
Pococke, 271
Pogson, 317
Polarization of moon's surface, 52
Polarization on Mars, 61
Pole of cold, 33
" star, 138, 239, 240
Pollux, 257
Polydectus, 244
Poor, 15 (footnote)
Poynting, 130
Præsape, 259
Prince, 25
Proclus, 221
Proctor, 7, 49, 59, 123, 285, 308, 323, 352
Procyon, 156, 157, 236, 284
Ptolemy, 189, 221-223, 224, 227, 230, 231, 234, 238, 244, 252, 253, 260,
263, 264, 267, 269, 275, 278, 281, 284, 293, 302, 330
Pyramid, Great, 46, 47, 308, 353
Pytheas, 46
Q
Quadruple system, 168
Quénisset, 21, 133
R
Rabourdin, 103
Radium, 7, 8, 38
Râhu, 93
Rama, 284, 340
_Rational Almanac_, 46
"Red Bird," 290
Red star, 279, 292
Regulus, 30, 156, 235, 236, 260, 310, 340
Remote galaxies, 193, 204, 205
Reticulum, 304
Rhea, 89
Rheita, De, 144
Riccioli, 189
Ricco, 32
Rigel, 156, 157, 222
Rigge, 107
Ring nebula in Lyra, 211
Rings of Saturn, 85
Rishis, 240
Ritter, 76, 147
"Rivers, celestial," 308
Roberts, Dr. A. W., 172, 173
Roberts, Dr. I., 95, 154, 200, 201, 203, 317
Roberts, C., 84
Robigalia, 280
Robinson, 342, 357
Roedeckoer, 28
Rogovsky, 42, 43, 44, 75
Rosse, Lord, 76
Roszel, 70
Rotation of Mercury, 16
" of Uranus, 91
" of Venus, 22
Rubáiyát, 127
Rudaux, 80, 89
Russell, H. C., 21
Russell, H. N., 146
Russell, J. C., 333
Rutherford, 38
S
Sadler, 78, 299
Safarik, 24, 25
Sagittarius, 265-267
_Sahu_, 274
Santini, 357
Satellite, eighth, of Jupiter, 82
" possible lunar, 54
" of Venus, 28, 29
Sawyer, 186
Sayce, 218, 261
Scaliger, 299
Schaeberle, 93
Schaer, 88
Scheiner, 4, 150, 188, 195
Scheuter, 30
Schiaparelli, 22, 326
Schjellerup, 226, 228, 230, 231, 264, 277, 281, 340
Schlesinger, 183
Schönfeld, 287
Schiraz, 47
Schmidt, 51, 188, 220, 271
Scholl, 79
Schröter, 13, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 48
Schuster, 2, 148, 149, 150
Schwabe, 5
Scorpio, 263-265
Sculptor, 301
Scutum, 299
Searle, 132
"Secondary light" of Venus, 23-28
See, Dr., 12, 13, 33, 58, 96, 161, 164, 165, 210, 211, 281, 282, 354
Seeliger, 181, 206
Seneca, 218, 220
Serapis, 145
Sestini, 190
"Seven Perfect Ones," 256
Sextans, 298
Shaler, 48
Sharpe, 357
Shelley, 356
Shicor, 274
"Ship," 285
"Sickle," 259
Signalling to Mars, 65
Sihor, 280
Silkit, 264
Silvestria, 124
Simeon of Durham, 53
Simonides, 255
"Singing Maidens," 256
Sirius, 138, 156, 157, 160, 163, 236, 274, 280, 282, 283
Slipher, 60, 87, 161, 178
Smart, 109
Smyth, Admiral, 12, 72, 77, 107, 136, 140, 145, 170, 176, 190, 194, 253,
259, 351
Snyder, Carl, 8, 345
Sobieski, 299
Sola, Comas, 81, 87
Somerville, Mrs., 357
Sothis, 286
Southern Cross, 293, 344
Spectra of double stars, 162
Spectrum of gaseous nebulæ, 195-198, 212
Spectrum of sun's chromosphere, 4
Spencer, Herbert, 193
Sphinx, 261
Spica, 156, 236
Spiral nebulæ, 213
Star magnitudes, 311
"Star of Bethlehem," 17, 18
Stars in daytime, 158
Stebbins, 51
Stockwell, 18, 331
"Stones from heaven," 125, 126
Stoney, 133
Strabo, 127
Stratonoff, 151, 320, 321
Stromgen, 88
Strutt, 7
Struve, 113, 240
Struyck, 54
Succulæ, 253
Suhail, 283, 286
Sun darkenings, 5, 335, 336
Sun's heat, 7
Sunlight, 1, 2
Sun-spots, 5, 6
Swift, 102
_Sydera Austricea_, 5
T
Tacchini, 22
Tamerlane, 238
Tammuz, 261
Tardé, 4
Taurus, 251
Taylor, 40
T Coronæ, 184
Tebbutt, 183, 278
Telescopium, 302
Temporary stars, 180-182, 265, 267, 343
Tennyson, 40
Terby, 88
Tethys, 89
Thales, 357
Thebes, 271
Themis, 88-90
Theogirus, 279
Theon, 245
Theseus, 257
Thome, 101
Thucydides, 331
Tibertinus, 281
Tibullus, 282
Tides, 40
Timocharis, 340
Tin, 179
Titan, 85, 88, 89
Titanium, 179
Toucan, 308
Transits of Mercury, 14, 15
" of Venus, 337, 338, 339
Triangulum, 271
" Australis, 306
Trio, 220
Triptolemus, 257
Triton, 93
Trouvelot, 21, 22, 78, 211
Tumlirz, 46
Turrinus, 220
Tycho Brahé, 10, 30, 99, 145, 179, 298
Typhon, 263, 272
U
Ulugh Beigh, 238, 276, 278
Underwood, 85
Uranus, chap. x.;
spectrum of, 91, 92
Urda, 71
V
Valz 72
"Vanishing star," 59
Varvadjah, 236
Vega, 148, 156, 244
Vencontre, 220
Venus, chap. iii.;
apparent motion of, 28;
supposed satellite of, 28, 29;
transit of, 337-339
Veronica, S, 145
Vesta, 70
Virgil, 17, 218, 242, 262, 309
Virgo, 260
Vogel, 180
Vogt, 122
Volans, 304
Voltaire, 15
Von Hahn, 24
Vulpecula, 300
W
Wallace, Dr., 212, 357
Wallis, 80
Ward, 88
Wargentin, 178
Watson, 339
Webb, 24, 25, 77, 190, 286
Weber, 183
Weinhand, 122
Wendell, 71, 103, 109
Werchojansk, 33
White spots on Jupiter's satellites, 81
White spots on Venus, 21
Whitmell, 50, 86
Wiggins, 333
Wilczyniski, 195
Williams, Stanley, 22, 277, 302
Wilsing, 155
Wilson, H. C., 137, 139
Wilson, Dr. W. E., 3, 148
Winnecke, 26, 188
Winterhalter, 351
Wolf, Dr. Max, 71, 72, 191, 211, Note p. 537
Wrangel, 240
Y
Young, Prof., 4, 7, 9
Young, Miss Anne S., 79
Yunis, Ibn, 30
Z
Zach, 331
Zenophon, 127
Zethas, 257
Zöllner, 27
THE END
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Comptes Rendus_, 1903, December 7.
[2] _Nature_, April 11, 1907.
[3] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 19 (1904), p. 39.
[4] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 21 (1905), p. 260.
[5] _Knowledge_, July, 1902, p. 132.
[6] _Nature_, April 30, 1903.
[7] _Ibid._, May 18, 1905.
[8] _Ibid._, May 18, 1905.
[9] _Nature_, June 29, 1871.
[10] _Nature_, October 15, 1903.
[11] _The Life of the Universe_ (1909), vol. ii. p. 209.
[12] _The World Machine_, p. 234.
[13] Quoted in _The Observatory_, March 1908, p. 125.
[14] _The Observatory_, September, 1906.
[15] _Nature_, March 1, 1900.
[16] _Cycle of Celestial Objects_, p. 96.
[17] _Ast. Nach._ No. 3737.
[18] _Observatory_, September, 1906.
[19] _Nature_, November 29 and December 20, 1894.
[20] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, July, 1898.
[21] _Observatory_, vol. 8 (1885), pp. 306-7.
[22] _Nature_, October 30, 1902.
[23] Charles Lane Poor, _The Solar System_, p. 170.
[24] Smyth, _Celestial Cycle_, p. 60.
[25] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 225.
[26] _The Observatory_, 1894, p. 395.
[27] _Ast. Nach._ 4333, quoted in _Nature_, July 1, 1909, p. 20.
[28] _English Mechanic_, July 23, 1909.
[29] _Nature_, December 22, 1892.
[30] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 52, footnote.
[31] _Ibid._, p. 54.
[32] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892, p. 618.
[33] _Nature_, August 7, 1879.
[34] _The World of Space_, p. 56.
[35] _Nature_, September 15, 1892.
[36] _Observatory_, 1880, p. 574.
[37] _Knowledge_, November 1, 1897, pp. 260, 261.
[38] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 61.
[39] _Ibid._, p. 48.
[40] _Nature_, June 1, 1876.
[41] _Cel. Objects_, vol. i. p. 66 (5th Edition).
[42] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 65 (5th Edition).
[43] _Ast. Nach._ No. 1863.
[44] _Nature_, June 1, 1876.
[45] _Ibid._, June 8, 1876.
[46] _Nature_, October 17, 1895.
[47] _Ibid._, July 27, 1905.
[48] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 107.
[49] _Nature_, October 6, 1887.
[50] _Ast. Nach._, No. 4106.
[51] _Copernicus_, vol. ii. p. 168.
[52] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 476, footnote.
[53] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 153.
[54] _Ibid._, p. 154.
[55] _Nature_, July 13, 1876.
[56] P. M. Ryves in _Knowledge_, June 1, 1897, p. 144.
[57] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1905.
[58] _Nature_, April 5, 1894.
[59] _Nature_, May 14, 1896. Some have attributed these "luminous clouds"
to light reflected from the dust of the Krakatoa eruption (1883).
[60] _The Observatory_, 1877, p. 90.
[61] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 293.
[62] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1905), p. 226.
[63] _Nature_, July 25, 1901 (from Flammarion).
[64] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 496.
[65] _Kinetic Theories of Gravitation_, Washington, 1877.
[66] _The Observatory_, June, 1894, p. 208.
[67] _Nature_, June 8, 1899.
[68] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), p. 238, footnote.
[69] _Mars as the Abode of Life_, p. 52.
[70] Second Book of the Maccabees v. 1-4 (Revised Edition).
[71] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 169 (Otté's translation).
[72] Quoted by Grant in _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 71.
[73] _Ibid._, pp. 100, 101.
[74] _Exposition du Système du Monde_, quoted by Carl Snyder in _The World
Machine_, p. 226.
[75] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 63.
[76] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 131.
[77] _The Observatory_, June, 1909, p. 261.
[78] _Astronomical Essays_, pp. 61, 62.
[79] _Encyclopædia Britannica_ (_Schiraz_).
[80] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1905.
[81] _Nature_, March 3, 1870.
[82] _Ibid._, March 31, 1870, p. 557.
[83] Prof. W. H. Pickering found 12 times (see p. 1).
[84] _Nature_, January 30, 1908.
[85] _Nature_, September 5, 1901.
[86] _Ibid._, July 31, 1890.
[87] _Nature_, October 16, 1884.
[88] _Nature_, February 19, 1885.
[89] _Nature_, January 14, 1909, p. 323.
[90] _Photographic Atlas of the Moon, Annals of Harvard Observatory_, vol.
li. pp. 14, 15.
[91] _Nature_, January 18, 1906.
[92] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 481.
[93] _Ibid._, p. 482.
[94] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., June, 1895.
[95] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 483 (Otté's translation).
[96] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 229.
[97] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. xvii. No. 6, p. 387 (June-July, 1909).
[98] _Nature_, October 7, 1875.
[99] _Mars as an Abode of Life_ (1908), p. 281.
[100] _Knowledge_, May 2, 1886.
[101] _Nature_, March 12, 1908.
[102] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1899.
[103] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_ (1894), p. 649.
[104] _Nature_, April 20, 1905.
[105] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), p. 258.
[106] _Nature_, August 22, 1907.
[107] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 12 (1904), p. 679.
[108] _Mars as an Abode of Life_, p. 69.
[109] _Ibid._, p. 146.
[110] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 49.
[111] _Worlds in the Making_, p. 53.
[112] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 158.
[113] _Ibid._, p. 166.
[114] _Nature_, July 13, 1876.
[115] _Nature_, May 2, 1907.
[116] _Nature_, May 30, 1907.
[117] _Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, August,
1908.
[118] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., 1902, p. 291.
[119] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1902, p. 291.
[120] _Nature_, May 24, 1894.
[121] _Ibid._, February 14, 1895.
[122] _Ibid._, September 14, 1905.
[123] _Ibid._, September 21, 1905.
[124] _Ibid._, September 28, 1905.
[125] _Ibid._, July 13, 1905.
[126] _Nature_, November 3, 1898.
[127] _Ibid._, July 14, 1881, p. 235.
[128] Quoted in _The Observatory_, February, 1896, p. 104, from _Ast.
Nach._, No. 3319.
[129] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., February, 1909.
[130] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 163.
[131] _Nature_, December 29, 1898.
[132] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 166.
[133] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14 (1901), pp. 248-9.
[134] _Nature_, August 27, 1908.
[135] Webb's _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 177.
[136] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 187.
[137] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 186.
[138] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892, p. 87.
[139] _Ibid._, 1892, pp. 94-5.
[140] _Observatory_, December, 1891.
[141] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 574.
[142] _Ibid._, October, 1908.
[143] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1907.
[144] _Nature_, August, 29 1907.
[145] _Ibid._, March 7, 1907.
[146] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.
[147] _The Observatory_, October, 1903, p. 392.
[148] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, p. 277.
[149] _Nature_, November 18, 1897.
[150] _Journal_, B.A.A., January, 1907.
[151] _Journal_, B.A.A., February, 1909, p. 161.
[152] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 703.
[153] _Ibid._
[154] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 349.
[155] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 75.
[156] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1896.
[157] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 191.
[158] _Nature_, May 30, 1901.
[159] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, August, 1900.
[160] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1892.
[161] _Astrophysical Journal_, January, 1908, p. 35.
[162] _Nature_, May 22, 1902.
[163] _Ibid._, July 9, 1903.
[164] _Ibid._, July 16, 1903.
[165] _Nature_, September 24, 1903.
[166] _Ibid._, October 8, 1903.
[167] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 26 (1907), p. 60.
[168] _Nature_, January 30, 1908.
[169] _Ibid._, October 15, 1908.
[170] _Ibid._, October 29, 1908.
[171] _Journal_, B.A.A., March, 1908, and June 22, 1908.
[172] _Nature_, June 25, 1903.
[173] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.
[174] _Pop. Ast._, vol. 12, pp. 408-9.
[175] _Nature_, August 29, 1889.
[176] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 26 (1907), p. 62.
[177] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, January, 1904.
[178] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 532.
[179] _Copernicus_, vol. ii. p. 64.
[180] _Knowledge_, May, 1909.
[181] _Journal_, British Astronomical Association, January, 1909, p. 132.
[182] _Ast. Nach._, No. 4308.
[183] _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 204.
[184] Smyth's _Celestial Cycle_, pp. 210, 211.
[185] Poor, _The Solar System_, p. 274.
[186] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 246.
[187] _Nature_, October 2, 1879.
[188] _Ibid._, May 6, 1880.
[189] _Ibid._, February 19, 1880.
[190] _Nature_, September 30, 1897.
[191] _Nature_, August 5, 1875.
[192] _Ibid._, October 12, 1882, and _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 85.
[193] _Nature_, May 8, 1884.
[194] _Ibid._, June 16, 1887.
[195] _Journal_, B.A.A., December 13, 1901.
[196] _Nature_, September 20, 1900.
[197] _Ast. Nach._, No. 3868, and _Nature_, March 12, 1903.
[198] _Nature_, November 13, 1908.
[199] _Nature_, December 7, 1905.
[200] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 259.
[201] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 260.
[202] _Journal_, B.A.A., April, 1907.
[203] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., March, 1908.
[204] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 231.
[205] _Journal_, B.A.A., July, 1908.
[206] _Popular Astronomy_, October, 1908.
[207] _Cape Obs._, p. 401.
[208] _Nature_, July 2, 1908.
[209] _Journal_, B.A.A., January 20, 1909, pp. 123-4.
[210] Chambers' _Handbook of Astronomy_, Catalogue of Comets.
[211] Seneca, quoted by Chambers, _Handbook_, vol. i. p. 554 (Fourth
Edition).
[212] _Ibid._
[213] _Ibid._
[214] _Ibid._, p. 534.
[215] _Ibid._
[216] Ma-tuoan-lin, quoted by Chambers, _Handbook_, p. 570.
[217] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1893, p. 798.
[218] _The Observatory_, October, 1898.
[219] Grant's _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 293.
[220] _Ibid._, p. 294.
[221] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. pp. 89, 90 (Otté's translation).
[222] _Celestial Objects_, vol. i. p. 211, footnote.
[223] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 248.
[224] _Ibid._, p. 248.
[225] _Ibid._, p. 250.
[226] _Ibid._, p. 231.
[227] Vol. iii. p. 106.
[228] Grant's _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 298.
[229] _Ibid._, p. 305.
[230] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 95.
[231] _Nature_, April 30, 1908.
[232] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, May, 1906.
[233] _Nature_, November 24, 1904.
[234] _Ibid._, September 10, 1896.
[235] _Ibid._, June 29, 1893.
[236] _Journal_, B.A.A., May 22, 1903.
[237] _Nature_, December 13, 1906, p. 159.
[238] _Nature_, September 13, 1906.
[239] _Nature_, October 12, 1905, p. 596.
[240] _Knowledge_, January 13, 1882.
[241] _Ibid._, January 20, 1882.
[242] _Popular Astronomy_, June-July, 1908, p. 345.
[243] _The Observatory_, March, 1896, p. 135.
[244] _The Observatory_, February, 1900, pp. 106-7.
[245] _Knowledge_, March, 1893, p. 51.
[246] _Ibid._, July 3, 1885, p. 11.
[247] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 108 (Otté's translation).
[248] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 124.
[249] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 119, footnote.
[250] _Copernicus_, vol. i. p. 72.
[251] _Ibid._
[252] _Astrophysical Journal_, June, 1909, pp. 378-9.
[253] _Knowledge_, July, 1909, p. 264.
[254] Quoted by Miss Irene E. T. Warner in _Knowledge_, July, 1909, p.
264.
[255] _The Observatory_, November, 1900.
[256] Or, "Before the phantom of false morning died" (4th edition); _The
Observatory_, September, 1905, p. 356.
[257] _The Observatory_, July, 1896, p. 274.
[258] _Journal_, B.A.A., January 24, 1906.
[259] _Ast. Soc. of the Pacific_, December, 1908, p. 280.
[260] _Nature_, November 1, 1906.
[261] _Ibid._, November 22, 1906, p. 93.
[262] _Nature_, August 30, 1906.
[263] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 131, footnote.
[264] _Nature_, December 16, 1875.
[265] _Ibid._, July 23, 1891.
[266] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1903.
[267] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, April, 1903.
[268] _The Observatory_, May, 1896. The italics are Brenner's.
[269] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 563.
[270] For details of this enumeration, see _Astronomical Essays_, p. 222.
[271] _Nature_, June 11, 1908.
[272] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 14 (1906), p. 510.
[273] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 532.
[274] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 194.
[275] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 195.
[276] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, February, 1903.
[277] Here [Greek: ch] is probably 17 Cygni, [Greek: ch] being the famous
variable near it.
[278] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1904), p. 509.
[279] _Astrophysical Journal_, December, 1895.
[280] _The Observatory_, July, 1895, p. 290.
[281] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 302.
[282] _Nature_, December 13, 1894.
[283] _Histoire Celeste_, p. 211.
[284] _Nature_, October, 1887.
[285] _Ibid._, August 29, 1889.
[286] _Science Abstracts_, February 25, 1908, pp. 82, 83.
[287] _Bedford Catalogue_, pp. 227-8.
[288] _Knowledge_, February 1, 1888.
[289] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 280.
[290] _Popular Astronomy_, February, 1904.
[291] _Ibid._, vol. 15 (1907), p. 444.
[292] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1899.
[293] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 8 (1898), p. 314.
[294] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 8, p. 213.
[295] _Ibid._, vol. 17, January to June, 1902.
[296] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, pp. 569-70.
[297] _The Study of Stellar Evolution_ (1908), p. 171.
[298] _Astrophysical Journal_, January, 1905.
[299] _Journal_, B.A.A., June, 1901.
[300] _Ast. Soc. of the Pacific_, December, 1908.
[301] _The Observatory_, November, 1902, p. 391.
[302] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 567 (Otté's translation).
[303] _Journal_, B.A.A., February, 1898.
[304] _The Observatory_, April, 1887.
[305] _Evangeline_, Part the Second, III.
[306] _Legend of Robert, Duke of Normandy._
[307] _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 231.
[308] _Ibid._, p. 61.
[309] _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 142.
[310] These apertures are computed from the formula, minimum visible = 9 +
5 log. aperture.
[311] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 73.
[312] _Darwin and Modern Science_, p. 563.
[313] _Journal_, B.A.A., October, 1895.
[314] Burnham's _General Catalogue of Double Stars_, p. 494.
[315] _Journal_, B.A.A., November 18, 1896.
[316] _Ibid._, B.A.A., January, 1907.
[317] _Studies in Astronomy_, p. 185.
[318] _Knowledge_, June, 1891.
[319] Seen by Drs. Ludendorff and Eberhard, _The Observatory_, April,
1906, p. 166, quoted from _Ast. Nach._, No. 4067.
[320] _The Observatory_, January, 1907, p. 61.
[321] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894.
[322] Smyth's _Celestial Cycle_, p. 223.
[323] _Nature_, February 7, 1907.
[324] _Ibid._, March 19, 1908.
[325] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 9.
[326] _Astrophysical Journal_, June, 1907, p. 330.
[327] _Ibid._, vol. 22, p. 172.
[328] _Nature_, November 18, 1886.
[329] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.
[330] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 12 (1900), p. 54.
[331] _Nature_, March 21, 1878.
[332] _Bulletin, Ast. Soc. de France_, June, 1904.
[333] _Journal_, B.A.A., vol. 17 (1903), p. 282.
[334] _Nature_, June 20, 1909.
[335] _The Observatory_, vol. 7 (1884), p. 17.
[336] _The Observatory_, vol. 14 (1891), p. 69.
[337] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1896, p. 54
[338] _Nature_, August 28, 1902.
[339] _Astrophysical Journal_, October, 1903.
[340] _Nature_, May 30, 1907.
[341] _Popular Astronomy_, February, 1909, p. 125.
[342] _The Observatory_, May, 1907, p. 216.
[343] _Astrophysical Journal_, May, 1907.
[344] _Histoire de l'Astronomie Moderne_, vol. i. pp. 185-6.
[345] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 210 (Otté's translation).
[346] _Ibid._, vol. iii. pp. 213-14.
[347] J. C. Duncan, _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 151.
[348] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 17, p. 283.
[349] _The Origin of the Stars_, p. 143.
[350] _Ibid._, p. 135.
[351] Quoted by Ennis in _The Origin of the Stars_, p. 133.
[352] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 20 (1904), p. 357.
[353] _Nature_, March 8, 1906.
[354] _Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, August, 1908.
[355] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, 1894, p. 812.
[356] _The Observatory_, May, 1905.
[357] This is a misquotation. See my _Astronomical Essays_, p. 135.
[358] _Nature_, February 3, 1870.
[359] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 14.
[360] _Ibid._, p. 307.
[361] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 14, p. 37.
[362] _Ibid._, vol. 9, p. 149.
[363] _Nature_, July 20, 1899.
[364] _Ast. Nach._, No. 3476.
[365] _Astronomische Nachrichten_, No. 4213.
[366] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 9, p. 149.
[367] _Cape Observations_, p. 61.
[368] _Ibid._, p. 85.
[369] _Cape Observations_, p. 98.
[370] _Transactions_, Royal Dublin Society, vol. 2.
[371] _Ast. Nach._, 3628, quoted in _The Observatory_, April, 1900.
[372] _Nature_, April 8, 1909.
[373] _Problems in Astrophysics_, p. 477.
[374] _Ibid._, p. 499.
[375] _Copernicus_, vol. iii. p. 55.
[376] _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 149.
[377] _Ibid._
[378] _Ibid._
[379] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., April, 1908, pp. 465-481.
[380] _Lick Observatory Bulletin_, No. 155 (February, 1909).
[381] _Outlines of Astronomy_, par. 870 (Edition of 1875).
[382] _Georgics_, i. II. 217-18.
[383] See paper by Mr. and Mrs. Maunder in _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S.,
March, 1904, p. 506.
[384] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii. p. 143.
[385] _Recherches sur l'Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne_, by Paul
Tannery (1893), p. 298.
[386] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii. p. 225.
[387] _Nature_, October 2, 1890.
[388] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 243-4.
[389] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 242-3.
[390] There are three copies of Al-Sufi's work in the Imperial Library at
Paris, but these are inaccurate. There is also one in the British Museum
Library, and another in the India Office Library; but these are imperfect,
considerable portions of the original work being missing.
[391] _Harvard Annals_, vol. ix. p. 51.
[392] The science of the risings and settings of the stars was called _ilm
el-anwa_ (Caussin, _Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque
due Roi_, tome xii. p. 237).
[393] See Mr. E. B. Knobel's papers on this subject in the _Monthly
Notices_, R.A.S., for 1879 and 1884.
[394] In reading this chapter the reader is recommended to have a Star
Atlas beside him for reference; Proctor's smaller Star Atlas will be found
very convenient for this purpose. On the title-page of this useful work
the author quotes Carlyle's words, "Why did not somebody teach me the
constellations and make me at home in the starry heavens which are always
overhead, and which I don't half know to this day?"
[395] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 29.
[396] _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 87.
[397] _Heavenly Display_, 579-85.
[398] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 385.
[399] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 529.
[400] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. pp. 268-9.
[401] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 48.
[402] _Bedford Catalogue_, pp. 27, 28.
[403] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 492.
[404] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 120.
[405] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 143.
[406] Perseus.
[407] _Heavenly Display_, 254-8, 261-5, quoted by Brown in _Primitive
Constellations_, vol. i. p. 274.
[408] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 493.
[409] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 292.
[410] _Paradiso_, xxii. 111.
[411] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 493.
[412] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 225.
[413] _Nature_, April 6, 1882.
[414] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 68.
[415] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 71.
[416] _Bibliographie Gènèrale de l'Astronomie_, vol. i. Introduction, pp.
131, 132.
[417] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 296.
[418] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 74.
[419] _Cape Observations_, p. 116.
[420] _Metamorphoses_, xv. 371.
[421] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 487.
[422] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., April 14, 1848.
[423] _Prim. Const._, vol. ii. p. 45.
[424] Lalande's _Astronomie_, pp. 472-3.
[425] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 485.
[426] This star is not shown in Proctor's small Atlas, but it lies between
[Greek: m] and [Greek: n], nearer to [Greek: m].
[427] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 247.
[428] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 489.
[429] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 91.
[430] _Memoirs_, R.A.S., vol. xiii. 61.
[431] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., June, 1895.
[432] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 274.
[433] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 143.
[434] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 278.
[435] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv. p. 468.
[436] _Quæst. Nat._, Lib. 1, Cap. I. § 6; quoted by Dr. See. "Canicula" is
Sirius, and "Nartis," Mars.
[437] _Astronomy and Astrophysics_, vol. 11, 1892.
[438] _The Observatory_, April, 1906, p. 175.
[439] Houzeau, _Bibliographie Gènèrale de l'Astronomie_, vol. i.,
Introduction, p. 129.
[440] _English Mechanic_, March 25, 1904, p. 145.
[441] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 185, footnote (Otté's
translation).
[442] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol, i. p. 277.
[443] This was pointed out by Flammarion in his work _Les Étoiles_, page
532; but his identifications do not agree exactly with mine.
[444] See Proctor's Map 7, now x.
[445] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 106.
[446] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i. p. 278.
[447] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. iv.
[448] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i. p. 112.
[449] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 113.
[450] Lalande's _Astronomie_, vol. i.
[451] W. T. Lynn in _The Observatory_, vol. 22, p. 236.
[452] _Knowledge_, May 1, 1889. Sir John Herschel, however, gives 3970
B.C.
[453] _The Observatory_, November 1907, p. 412.
[454] This is not, however, _invariably_ the case, as pointed out by Mr.
Denning in _The Observatory_, 1885, p. 340.
[455] _The Observatory_, vol. 8 (1885), pp. 246-7.
[456] _Harvard College Observatory Annals_, vol. xlviii. No. 5.
[457] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 529.
[458] _Cape Observations_, p. 77.
[459] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., March, 1899.
[460] _Nature_, February 13, 1890.
[461] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 15 (1907), p. 530.
[462] _Photographs of Star-Clusters and Nebulæ_, vol. ii. p. 17.
[463] _Monthly Notices_, R.A.S., May 9, 1856.
[464] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 25 (1907), p. 219.
[465] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 11 (1903), p. 293.
[466] Translated by W. H. Mallock, _Nature_, February 8, 1900, p. 352.
[467] Howard Payn, _Nature_, May 16, 1901, p. 56.
[468] Howard Payn, _Nature_, May 16, 1901, p. 56.
[469] _Contributions from the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory_, No. 31.
[470] Quoted by Denning in _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p.
297.
[471] _Astrophysical Journal_, March, 1895.
[472] _Outlines of Astronomy_, Tenth Edition, p. 571.
[473] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 12, p. 136.
[474] _De Placitis._ Quoted by Carl Snyder in _The World Machine_ p. 354.
[475] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 14 (1906), p. 638.
[476] Article on "The Greek Anthology," _Nineteenth Century_, April, 1907,
quoted in _The Observatory_, May, 1907.
[477] _Popular Astronomy_, vol. 13 (1905), p. 346.
[478] _Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France_, April, 1908.
[479] _The Observatory_, vol. 11, p. 375.
[480] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 364.
[481] _Ibid._, p. 377.
[482] _Ibid._, p. 366.
[483] _Ibid._, p. 367.
[484] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 370.
[485] _Nature_, July 25, 1889.
[486] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. p. 381.
[487] _Cosmos_, vol. iv. pp. 381-6.
[488] _Ibid._, vol. i. p. 121.
[489] _The Observatory_, vol. 6 (1883), pp. 327-8.
[490] _Nature_, June 25, 1874.
[491] _Popular Astronomy_, May, 1895, "Reflectors or Refractors."
[492] Denning, _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_, p. 225.
[493] _Nature_, November 2, 1893.
[494] _Telescopic Work_, p. 226.
[495] _Copernicus_, vol. i. p. 229.
[496] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 433.
[497] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 699.
[498] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 536, footnote.
[499] _Bedford Catalogue_, p. 179.
[500] _The Observatory_, July, 1891.
[501] _Nature_, September 3, 1903.
[502] _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 669.
[503] _The World Machine_, p. 80.
[504] _Ibid._, p. 89.
[505] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 107.
[506] Grant, _History of Physical Astronomy_, p. 113.
[507] _Nature_, August 11, 1898.
[508] _Ibid._, August 18, 1898.
[509] _Ibid._, October 20, 1898.
[510] _The Observatory_, vol. iv. (1881), p. 234.
[511] W. T. Lynn, _The Observatory_, July, 1909, p. 291.
[512] Quoted in _The Observatory_, July, 1902, p. 281.
[513] _Astrophysical Journal_, vol. 6, 1897, p. 304.
[514] _Celestial Cycle_, p. 367.
[515] _The Observatory_, vol. 5 (1882), p. 251.
[516] Quoted by Humboldt in _Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 696, footnote.
[517] Quoted by Denning in _Telescopic Work_, p. 347.
[518] _Knowledge_, February 20, 1885, p. 149.
[519] Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 123.
[520] _Outlines of Astronomy_, par. 319; edition of 1875.
[521] _Bulletin de la Soc. Ast. de France_, March, 1908, p. 146.
[522] An "astronomical unit" is the sun's mean distance from the earth.
[523] This is on the American and French system of notation, but on the
English system, 10{66} = 10{60} × 10{6} would be a million decillion.
[524] _Astronomical Society of the Pacific_, April, 1909 (No. 125), and
_Popular Astronomy_, May, 1909.
[525] _Nature_, July 22, 1909.
[526] _Ibid._
[527] _The Observatory_, vol. 9 (December, 1886), p. 389.
[528] _De Nat. Deorum_, quoted in Smyth's _Cycle_, p. 19.
[529] _The Observatory_, May, 1907.
[530] _More Worlds than Ours_, p. 17.
[531] _Man's Place in Nature._
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
Subscripted characters are indicated by _{subscript}.
The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
letters have been replaced with transliterations.
Foonote 48 appears on page 28 of the text, but there is no corresponding
marker on the page.
Foonote 448 appears on page 295 of the text, but there is no corresponding
marker on the page.
End of Project Gutenberg's Astronomical Curiosities, by J. Ellard Gore